UADavid

Now you're just exaggerating. They have three weeks!

Stopped on Spicer St. and watched them tear down scaffolding on the backside of the east stands. They surrounded the steel uprights with brick to the top of the stands, but the wall covering the rest of the steel structure stops on third of the way up. With the scaffold coming down, it doesn't appear the wall will go all the way to the top. Does anyone have any information on this?

The UA athletics office has that covered. 20 cans of spray paint! I hope it's green.

Nice find. "and plans for basketball arena" I'm a bit surprised. Maybe all the arena talk we've engaged in is not premature. OOPS! "improvements". Should have read the whole article. Got too excited."Master's or advanced degree from an accredited institution preferred. " This should be a must have in my opinion.

Happens every time. They must be directing these billboards to the daily driver so they can take a week or two to get the whole advertisement.

Agreed. I don't know why they are pummeling the people who already have season tickets with information to buy MORE season tickets. I agree with getting info to alumni as a starting point be we need to expand. If we can spend money to put what, 2,3 billboards near I-75 in DETROIT for the MCB, we should easily be able to scrounge up enough money to put one well placed billboard in Cleveland, on the West side, on the East Side, and between Akron and Cleveland, and one in Canton. Maybe say something like:Show the "Fear the Roo" logo looming over the new press tower with"Fear has a new home""1-888-99-Akron"or"Big Time football, Big Time Stadium""1-888-99-Akron"or"New Stadium, New Attitude""1-888-99-Akron"or"Big 10 football comes to Akron! Get your tickets NOW""1-888-99-Akron"or"NCAA DI Football in the Nations newest stadium for just $$$$" "1-888-99-Akron"and lets see some TV commercials! PLEASE don't use that cheesy "Be a part, from the start" jingle....UH. Cough up the cash, pay some royalties and use some Kick @$$ music! God, we've put so many ideas out there I hope they at least do SOMETHING!I didn't get the $$$$ but I also am tired of the Hopefully someone will read your post and get something going. The day after getting pummeled on Rasors blog, Yurachek responded with some of the plans they've been using and plan on using. I believe one was to show up at city events. I guess we needed to ask what they would do if they decided to show up. For those who forgot or didn't see the post, Mike's blog link is below and the so so information is in bold. Has anyone received a twitter yet? http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/zips/I asked senior associate athletic director Hunter Yurachek to expound on his marketing plan. Here is the Q&A:Rasor: How does your team plan to market the home opener to public? In other words, what is the specific plan to sell single-game seats against Morgan State?Yurachek: Currently, the external staff's focus is on maximizing season tickets sales, which continues to go well. We will shift gears and actively begin marketing single game tickets in mid-August. When the single-game ticket campaign is in full swing, the marketing will include an extensive schedule of traditional media (radio, TV, print, outdoor billboards and direct mail) and non-traditional media (e-mail, web and Twitter). Our internal sales force of 10 will continue their summer-long campaign that has included telemarketing for individual and group sales, solicitation at local businesses, speaking at civic events, appearances and inclusion in community festival parades, etc. Also as the single game push begins, InfoCision (the company) will be assisting in a concerted telemarketing effort.While it is not a part of the marketing plan, the word-of-mouth exposure has been great. Those who have toured the stadium and participated in the select-your-seat program have been thoroughly impressed. InfoCision Stadium does sell itself. We anticipate a person who may purchase a ticket for just the Morgan State will want to purchase a season ticket as well.Rasor: What is your goal for season attendance average?Yurachek: Our goal is to average 20,000+ over the six-game home season. However, as we developed the financial pro-forma for the season, we were aggressive while at the same time carrying forth what we thought were realistic goals. We tried to take into account uncontrollable factors such as weather, game times and playing during the week, as well as our good home schedule, specifically with the first game in the facility (Morgan State), Big Ten opponent (Indiana), Homecoming (Ohio) and Can't State. The attendance goal within our 2009 ticket pro-forma is an average of 18,037 per game.

A failure for sure if they don't get this handled. No good for Morgan St. but they should get this done before all the late year home games. It's 7pm and the scoreboard crew is still working. Been raining for approximately 20 minutes so they must feel some urgency to get this project moving. Most of the scoreboard that was taken down is still on the dirt bank.

The sad part is if they would use ZipsNation by keeping us informed and making us feel needed, they could have asked for volunteers to help pass out information about season tickets, purchasing bricks, moving Akron gear and the like. I would have given them some time over the weekend to do just that. I've heard some members of the Athletics dept. read the forum. They are missing so many opportunities to keep us informed and active. I think some will be very upset when they finally get around to giving us a tailgating update. I doubt that anyone will be allowed to set up on any grassy area on campus. Those are manicured lawns, not cut down weed fields. The recently paved lot next to the computer center is also an unlikely candidate for tailgating. They will want to maximize car parking and not allow tailgaters to take two or three spots. My best guess would be the old ball fields across Exchange street off of Power? Also where the construction crews park there personal vehicles along Brown Street just south of campus.

Looks like the scoreboard parts that came down are in the way of the hill grading. I can't see the ribbon board. How long and where is it on the east stands? It looks like the last row of the lower bowl east side might have the ribbon board lying on it, but I don't see anything up. It also looks like something is lying down on the back row lower bowl press box side.

You're right. It is a no brainer. Plenty of room for a large multi-pupose arena for events from basketball to concerts. A college campus is a far superior place to have concerts than downtown.Now, if we can some how talk APS into giving it up as a swing school, so UA can have it now instead of nine years from now.You completely lose me with this statement. Would you explain to ZN why this would be true?No. I don't make it a habit to knowingly walk into a snare or an ambush. Guess you'll just have to stay lost.Ok, I'll bite. There is no reason to believe that an campus arena would yield a better concert than any other location in a city. If the programming is good, it would follow that the concert would be good. Possible exceptions are paper plant, rendering plant, sewage plant etc. etc. ps. No trap, I just don't understand how your statement can be supported.

The poll is for where people would like to see a proposed arena. The likely location would likely yield different results.

You're right. It is a no brainer. Plenty of room for a large multi-pupose arena for events from basketball to concerts. A college campus is a far superior place to have concerts than downtown.Now, if we can some how talk APS into giving it up as a swing school, so UA can have it now instead of nine years from now.You completely lose me with this statement. Would you explain to ZN why this would be true?

bump.

Stairwell doubles as bomb shelter!

Summa Field sign up on bottom middle of scoreboard.

Works great. Thanks!

One of the contractors is using a white cattle trailer to bring equipment to the site. It's parked behind the scoreboard.

At the time the JAR was built, they tried to put too many eggs in one basket and got a building that was inadequate in all aspects from offices to seats to classrooms. For the cost a facility like this will command, I think we can assume it will be a multi-use facility. The building will need to be used often so good programming for the venue is essential. I hope we're far enough away from the Q to not clash for events. UA couldn't program EJ and The Civic properly so I believe it needs to be a separate group. I think we can also assume that if we need assistance from the city, the facility will need to be on the polsky side of campus. Summit County could also consider the facility a county-wide asset and assist in building. The county might want to push such a building closer to the Knight Convention Center (Quaker Square). At that location UA could maximize the hotel with the arena next door. Does that location have room for an arena and parking? There might be better locations no one has mentioned yet. My preferred location would be the Central-Hower site. It would help by getting high-schoolers off the campus and out of the student union where there have been altercations, and transform the North side of campus. I think we could also have a great parking situation there with the North Deck and large footprint for parking on site. The two obstacles I see for this location are APS(big obstacle) and money. I don't think that UA will be able to finance an arena without the city or county. Are there any more big donors that could make this happen?Be creative, have fun with it and tell us where you would like to see any future arena located.OK, my personal preference is to have a first class multipurpose facility because I would be a customer for both basketball games and concerts. For at least some of those events, I'd want to combine the experience with dinner at one of Akron's downtown restaurants, as I do when I attend a concert at the Q and have dinner in Cleveland. So ideally any new multipurpose facility would be reasonably close to good parking and good restaurants.I also believe that having lots of enthusiastic students in attendance is a key part of the college basketball experience. So I would not favor an off-campus location more than a couple of blocks from campus that would discourage students from attending. That pretty much defines an area east of Main between Market and Exchange.If it's closer to Market than Exchange, it would be far enough from the downtown restaurants I frequent that I'd probably end up having to get in the car and drive anyway, especially in the middle of the winter if my wife was with me. So there'd be no big advantage to me over the current JAR location in terms of having to drive between dinner and an event.But it does appear from looking at satellite images of downtown Akron that the area just northeast across the street (Mill) from the Knight Convention Center just might have room for a 10,000-seat facility and parking deck that could serve both venues. This just might be the best location in terms of getting full support from UA, the city and the county. I don't think there is any "perfect" location that will please all the people all the time. But this appears to me right now to be the best compromise location of any mentioned so far for a downtown multipurpose facility that would be convenient to campus. So I could support this location as long as no one comes up with any major negatives.The Knight Convention Center could go after larger groups if they could add the floor space of a nearby arena. UA, city and county package would be the most cost effective and likely quickest way for any arena to be built. It is a close and realistic location for any proposed arena.

I just drove down Exchange St several times looking at the plasma site. While it fits the topic where would you like to see an arena, the site is too small. We have agreements with the Odd Corner and Mannys to keep out of their way. They are on either side of that corner lot. I think Mannys is 15 years and Odd Corner for as long as he's there. Bring back The Townhouse and the pizza place past the bar in back!The poll was more for where you'd like to have it than where it could be built.

They also list Russell Holmes from KeyBank. Might be our football/basketball player from the mid 80's.

No access to 8S and 77S from exchange and getting to Goodkirk to access the ramp would be troublesome. I like the location too but Manny's would be in section 203 on the scorers table side.

At the time the JAR was built, they tried to put too many eggs in one basket and got a building that was inadequate in all aspects from offices to seats to classrooms. For the cost a facility like this will command, I think we can assume it will be a multi-use facility. The building will need to be used often so good programming for the venue is essential. I hope we're far enough away from the Q to not clash for events. UA couldn't program EJ and The Civic properly so I believe it needs to be a separate group. I think we can also assume that if we need assistance from the city, the facility will need to be on the polsky side of campus. Summit County could also consider the facility a county-wide asset and assist in building. The county might want to push such a building closer to the Knight Convention Center (Quaker Square). At that location UA could maximize the hotel with the arena next door. Does that location have room for an arena and parking? There might be better locations no one has mentioned yet. My preferred location would be the Central-Hower site. It would help by getting high-schoolers off the campus and out of the student union where there have been altercations, and transform the North side of campus. I think we could also have a great parking situation there with the North Deck and large footprint for parking on site. The two obstacles I see for this location are APS(big obstacle) and money. I don't think that UA will be able to finance an arena without the city or county. Are there any more big donors that could make this happen?Be creative, have fun with it and tell us where you would like to see any future arena located.

You sold me on the tonic. Love the SOS!

What do Zipsnation members think? This is the ideal location, no holds barred.

I agree. This is something akin to "the pot calling the kettle black". I appreciate the enthusiasm you appear to have for UA, at least since joining ZN on June 11, 2009, but your belligerent style is not. Your reply to posts that differ from yours are often relegated to name calling and insults. You've had your say and then some on a location for a possible arena. If others don't agree with you, they're not wrong, they simply disagree and have their own opinion. You take differing opinions too personally. I can think of another person in Akron who has this same trait. Care to guess who? Hint: initials are D. P.I see where the moderator of Zipsnation.org has set it up where a poster cannot spell the name of our rival university several miles to the east without the spelling being changed to "Can't State". Congratulations, this site has outdone Ohio.com in the immaturity department.Lighten up already, this schtick is getting very old. As to locating a possible arena in the parking lots adjacent to the Rec center, Info stadium and Ocasek Natatorium, I think that would take away precious parking needed by those buildings. It would also hide the stadium from view from several locations on campus. Why hide the stadium? Lack of parking and ingress-egress is a major consideration for any location. The UofA will probably need to build a deck in that location in the future. Moving the College of Education from the center of campus to an outskirts location is also a poor decision, IN MY OPINION! They need proximity to the Student Union and other core buildings on campus. Graduate programs are better suited for this type of location. The most viable location for an on campus Arena is the Central-Hower site and with the stance of APS, this will not happen. So we need to look outside what currently is considered on campus. The strip of land between the Beacon and tracks would be a good location but I don't think it's deep enough. The proposed arena across from Canal Park now has a restored building and it's questionable if an arena would fit the locations that are left. Has anyone looked at the U-Haul location east of campus? Maybe we could fit an arena there. How about the chemical company next to U-Haul? If UA could aquire both properties there would be enough room for an arena and parking facility. I personally like a destination location. For me that location would be closer to downtown. Park the car once, go to the game and then hit the bars or restaurants. I wouldn't want to try to find a parking spot downtown after seeing a game on the north, east or south side of campus. This also goes for a concert, circus, hockey game, or any other use this facility might hold.